PALEONTOLOGICAL NOTES
607
CONCERNING THE MICROFAUNA FROM PENON SEEP,
MATANZAS PROVINCE, CUBA'
ESTHER R. APPLIN AND PAUL L. APPLIN
U. S. GeologicalSurvey, Jackson, Mississippi
IN
AN article entitled "Middle Eocene Foraminifera from Penon Seep, Matanzas
Province, Cuba," W. S. Cole and D. W.
Gravell (1952) present a table (p. 710) showing the local names introduced by Applin
and Applin (1944, pp. 1686-1703; table 1)
for subsurface stratigraphic units that they
recognize in the limestone facies of the Eocene rocks on the Florida peninsula. In connection with these different Eocene units,
Cole and Gravell's table names 11 foraminiferal species, which they designate "key fossils," "selected from lists given by Applin
and Jordan (1945) to match the species present at Pefion Seep." The faunal assemblage
lists referred to were published by Applin
1 Publicationauthorizedby the Director, U. S.
Geological Survey.
and Jordan (1945, pp. 129-132) under the
caption "List of common and characteristic
species of Foraminifera in Florida formations." The term "key fossil" connotes a
species that is confined to the stratigraphic
unit from which it is recorded, but Applin
and Jordan's designation of the Foraminifera as "common and characteristic," on the
contrary, does not preclude the possibility
that an occasional species may range
through more than one unit, and we believe
that the assemblage lists have, in large
measure, proved useful as a guide to the
identification of stratigraphic units in the
Florida subsurface.
Immediately following their table of "key
fossils," Cole and Gravell state: "Of the 16
previously named species considered at
Penion Seep, 11 occur in Florida, and accordBLE 1
Previously named species
recognized from Pefon Seep
(Cole and Gravell, 1952, p. 709)
Stratigraphic distribution in
Cuba as recorded by
Pedro J. Bermudez (1950, pp. 326-327)
Stratigraphic distribution in
Florida as recorded by
Applin and Jordan
(1945, pp. 130-131)
EOCENO
Superior
Consuelo
Medio
Inferior
Jabaco- Loma Univer- Capdev.
Lucero
Jicotea Candela sidad
.................
Amphistegina lopeztrigoiPalmer
Asterocyclina habanensis Cole and
Bermudez.....................
........
........
........
........
AsterocyclinamonticellensisCole and
Ponton ...........
......................Lake
not recordec ................
Cribrotextulariacoryensis (Cole) ..................
........
Dictyoconus americanus (Cushman) ........
Dictyoconus cookei (Moberg) . ........................Avon
Discocyclina (Discocyclina) marginata (Cushman) ....................................not
Discorinopsis gunteri Cole .......................not
recorded................
Eoconuloides wedlsi Cole and Bermudez .............................................
Fabiania cubensis (Cushman and
Bermudez) ...............................Lake
Gunteria floridana Cushman and
Ponton ................................
Hdicostegina gyralis Barker and
Grimsdale..........................
...
.
Pseudophragmina (Proporocyclina)
cushmani (Vaughan) ............
............................................not
Pseudophragmina (Proporocyclina)
recordec ...........................not
psila (Woodring) .............................not
Spirolina coryensis Cole .........................not
recorded.................
Valvulina martii Cushman and Bermudez ..............................
........Avon
Lake City (early middle Eocene)
............not
recorded
City (early middle Eocene)
.Avon Park (late middle Eocene)
..Lake City (early middle Eocene)
Park (late middle Eocene)
recorded
..Avon Park (late middle Eocene)
............
not recorded
City (early middle Eocene)
Lake City (early middle Eocene)
.Oldsmar (lower Eocene)
recorded
recorded
Avon Park (late middle Eocene)
Park (late middle Eocene)
608
PA LEONTOLOGICAL NOTES
ing to Applin and Jordan range from lower
Eocene to late middle Eocene." The meaning of the quoted sentence is obscure but it is
apparently a misstatement, for Applin and
Jordan did not say that the 11 species, or
any of them, "range from lower Eocene to
late middle Eocene." Of five species "selected" from the 14 recorded by Applin and
Jordan from the Avon Park limestone (late
middle Eocene), a varietal form of one species, Discorinopsis gunteri Cole, is fairly
common in the underlying Lake City limestone (early middle Eocene). So far as we
are aware, all the "selected species" from the
Lake City limestone are confined to that
unit. Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1699)
chose Helicostegina gyralis Barker and
Grimsdale as the key fossil of the top zone
(Zone I) of the Oldsmar limestone (lower
Eocene) and pointed out (p. 1693) that the
"faunal zone at the top of the lower Eocene
may eventually be proved to be Mount Selman in age."
According to Cole and Gravell (p. 710),
"It would appear that the 6 inch bed at
Peiion Seep contains many of the key fossils
by which three or four formations in Florida
are recognized." They matched the species
recorded from Perion Seep with Eocene species in Florida but did not make the equally
appropriate comparison between the Pefion
Seep species and those recorded from forma-
tions of Eocene age in Cuba. The tabulation
on page 607 shows: (1) the 16 previously
named species recognized from Pefion Seep
(Cole and Gravell, 1952, p. 709); (2) the
stratigraphic distribution in Cuba of each of
the 16 species as recorded by Bermudez
(1950, pp. 326-367) in his list containing
1,511 species and varieties of Cenozoic
Foraminifera; and (3) the stratigraphic distribution in Florida of each of the 16 species
as recorded by Applin and Jordan (1945, pp.
130-131).
Cole and Gravell record 22 species from
Pefion Seep, 10 of which are new or not
shown in Bermudez's list of Cenozoic Foraminifera; the tabulation below shows that
12 species occur in one or more of four formations of Eocene age in Cuba.
REFERENCES
APPLIN,E. R., and JORDAN,LOUISE,1945, Diag-
nostic Foraminifera from subsurface formations in Florida: Jour. Paleontology, vol. 19,
pp. 129-148.
APPLIN, P. L., and APPLIN, E. R., 1944, Regional
subsurfacestratigraphyand structure of Florida and southern Georgia: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., vol. 28, pp. 1673-1753.
BERMUDEZ, P. J., 1950, Contribucion al estudio
del Cenozoicocubano: Soc. Cubana Hist. Nat.
Mem., vol. 19, pp. 205-375.
COLE,W. S., and GRAVELL,D. W., 1952, Middle
Eocene Foraminifera from Peion Seep, Matanzas Province, Cuba: Jour. Paleontology,
vol. 26, pp. 708-727.
NOTES ON FORENSIC PALEONTOLOGY
G. WINSTON SINCLAIR
Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware,Ohio
My esteemed colleague and flatterer,
Carl C. Branson, has suggested in the November issue of the Journal that all new
names proposed in this Journal should be
accompanied by etymologies, and has presented a case which seems to have convinced
the editors. I would like to comment on this
proposal, with which I cannot agree.
May I preface my comments with some
general statements of belief. Paleontology is
the study of fossils, not the study of the
names of fossils. Time spent in consideration
of nomenclature is time wasted, and the
waste can only be justified if the end result
is that less and less time need be so spent.
Those rules are good which permit least argument. Those rules are bad which invite
discussion.
Applying these principles to the naming of
fossils, I would suggest that the only rule
permitting objective, unambiguous, unanimous usage is this: the name of an animal
shall be that combination of letters first proposed as its name. Period. This no matter
how uncouth, how misbegotten, how inappropriate this name may be. This is the only
name about which there can be no argument,
for all can read it in the original description